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Forrester
aspiring sociopath


Registered: 02/05/13
Posts: 9,351
Loc: Northeast USA
Last seen: 1 month, 12 days
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26694294 - 05/25/20 06:27 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said: I do not have the Right Views from a strictly Buddhist perspective, but my intentions towards ahimsa have me at loggerheads with my wife who decided to eat meat again and spent a lot at Whole Foods. This means that I have anger as well because I try do move away from all animal food (I feel badly that I need some fish these days), but who needs a $35 cut of a tortured dead steer? I don't know if the Buddha got angry or for how long but it seems that Iesous could if one is to take the story literally (which I do not). What does Enlightenment/Illumination all boil down to? I do not know at this point. The ataraxia or apatheia of the philosophers may protect them from their own emotions but being more detached than compassionate does not seem to be Enlightenment. More and more I agree with Socrates in that "I know that I know nothing."
I can certainly understand that one! It's tough. For me, I think it's more beneficial to let go of these things. I was a vegan for years, and I value compassion for animals highly. But when it comes to the point that you're experiencing anger towards a fellow human because their values don't seem to match yours, I think something may be out of balance. Sometimes we have to accept the systems that are in place, even though we may not agree with them, rather than try to "fix the dream", as they say.
I agree that detachment can seem like the opposite of compassion sometimes, and it can be hard to strike a balance. But it is possible to accept other humans' beliefs and not try to change them, without compromising yours. To me, the path to enlightenment is more about acceptance and letting go of things that weigh on the spirit/mind.
(I hope this doesn't sound like I'm taking a side here lol)
-------------------- Repugnant is a creature who would squander the ability to lift an eye to heaven, conscious of his fleeting time here. ------------------- Have some medicinal mushrooms and want to get the most out of them? Try this double extraction method.
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 21 days
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: Forrester]
#26695795 - 05/25/20 09:24 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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You're right about being out of balance. When I met my wife I was eating meat again after years of vegetarianism. We went to the Outback on a date. If I was as committed to ethical vegetarianism then as I am now, she wouldn't be here with me. I would've continued to look for someone with compassion-based values. (If my wife hadn't stopped smoking before she left college I would've not continued the relationship. I won't be in intimate relationship with a cigarette smoker because I am averse to cigarettes on multiple levels). But I can remember the years I consumed dead animals. My physician wanted to know if the meat thing was grounds for divorce when we went down this road before. I said probably not. (His wife is a chronic cigarette smoker so he has his own cross to bear).
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
Edited by MarkostheGnostic (05/31/20 01:03 AM)
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Fiery
Sword of Fire


Registered: 12/24/12
Posts: 36,574
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26708221 - 05/31/20 12:51 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Markos, I didn't read this thread (yet)
But if I were to be standing with a sword and it mattered what the stroke stoked, my blade would not fall on the neck.
I can not act against the entire structure
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Fiery
Sword of Fire


Registered: 12/24/12
Posts: 36,574
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26708234 - 05/31/20 12:58 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said:
I cannot say with conviction that I am a Buddhist. I talk with God,.
I stopped reading at this point.
Do you bow before the highest power? I mean down on your knees and touch the heavens with your head?
I constantly lay my own life down and tough my head to the earth the one true god.
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 21 days
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: The Blind Ass]
#26708280 - 05/31/20 01:23 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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If the historical persons appeared in the present speaking ancient dialects of Arabic, Aramaic, or Sanskrit AND they did not return in "clouds of glory" or some paranormal, supernatural way, they'd be freaked out - even Buddha - and they'd find themselves hospitalized in short order (hopefully not with COVID-19) with the first line of translators expressing incredulity and asking for academic language scholars to be brought in to interpret. If that could be done, and it was soon translated that they were a divine messenger, "the way the truth and the life," and Awakened, they'd all be sent to the nearest mental health facility for observation. But the clinicians would peg all of them as being eccentrics with delusions of grandeur, messianic complexes, schizophrenic, paranoid type most likely. If they had no recollection of their past historical identities and they evidenced no violence, they might be released onto the streets unable to communicate with anyone. It would not bode well for these beings who were so esteemed in their own times and places. Neither would a Tyrannosaurus Rex loosed in the present.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Fiery
Sword of Fire


Registered: 12/24/12
Posts: 36,574
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26708308 - 05/31/20 01:44 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I think you offer great advice Markos.
And also the soul is upon us all
we just like to forget it.
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chronotope999
Explorer



Registered: 10/09/19
Posts: 61
Loc: Ribbon World
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26708373 - 05/31/20 02:46 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Did you guys see the Netflix series 'Messiah', which came out last year?
It dealt with just this hypothetical, and dealt with it quite well, I think. History is full of revolutionaries, and in times when people are open to the supernatural, people ascribe supernatural power to their heroes.
Even now, when we're less likely to believe in paranormal effects, we still find ways to assign disproportionate psychological energy to those we love/are in love with. Now I come to think of it, it's probably universal, for anyone who as a child thinks that their parents are idealised figures, and then has to come to terms with their failings.
We each deal with that adjustment with various degrees of difficulty.
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 21 days
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: Fiery]
#26708375 - 05/31/20 02:47 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder



Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 21 days
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: chronotope999]
#26708381 - 05/31/20 02:52 AM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I have not.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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The Blind Ass
Bodhi



Registered: 08/16/16
Posts: 26,732
Loc: The Primordial Mind
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Re: To what extent are your Spiritual activities self-pleasing? [Re: MarkostheGnostic]
#26709662 - 05/31/20 05:46 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Agreeasaurus with you.
-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
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